Taking just a moment

I was asked recently to consider how hatha yoga has affected my life in the last year. I was  overwhelmed by how many things I came up with, how they simply tumbled out of my brain and onto the paper. Looking at the list, it’s obvious that yoga has affected every facet of my life from relationships, to diet to just feeling better being me. I often have the thought during the day: if the last twelve months have been so amazing, what are the next twelve months going to be like! I’m torn between wanting to fast forward and see and want to relish every moment. This picture was taken at the ending of one immersion last year and the beginning of another, it was a very expansive time for me.

What I really focused on, however, in this contemplation is what I ended up terming “mental fitness”. Which I would define as the ability to pick yourself and dust yourself off when you’ve been buffeted in some way. It’s not like yoga lets me live in a bubble where I’m floating in bliss. If I were, how would I know what bliss is and I’d miss out on all the gratitude that goes with that knowledge. Another discussion, but I definately live in the world and definately succumb to some of the less pleasant sides of my personality, especially when the stress levels kick up a notch.

What I’m really talking about is the process I now go through when times are tough. Rather than reacting straight away and going with whatever my brain is telling me there’s a moment of “ah, I know what my brain’s going to do here”. OK, it doesn’t always happen in the moment, but my heart gets around to tugging on my mind at some point and having a word. From that there’s an acceptance and a willingness to consider the situation and to try and expand within it. That never used to happen, I was all “that’s gone now, let’s move on”. However, I think this moment of consideration is crucial, there was a lesson there, now what do I need to learn? It’s the balance between being easy on yourself and asking difficult questions of yourself and being willing to do the work for next time.

It’s sweet and it’s what gets me on my mat because this is how I want to live my life.